Surgical management of cricopharyngeal achalasia in Spaniels results in favorable outcomes, with persistence or recurrence of mild signs documented in some dogs.

Objective: To describe clinical presentations, diagnostic findings, surgical treatments, and outcomes for Spaniels with cricopharyngeal achalasia (CPA).

Animals: 18 purebred or mixed-breed Spaniels treated surgically for CPA between 2003 and 2022.

Clinical presentation: Owners most commonly reported dysphagia (n = 13) and coughing when eating or drinking (10). There were 10 males (9 sexually intact, 1 castrated) and 8 sexually intact females. Median age and weight were 6 months (range, 5 to 59 months) and 8.0 kg (range, 0.8 to 22.0 kg), respectively. Median age at onset of clinical signs was 3 months (range, 5 to 6 months; n = 15). Body condition score on a scale from 1 (emaciated) to 5 (obese) was documented for 17 dogs: 13 dogs had a body condition score of 3/5, and 4 had a score of 2/5.

Results: Fluoroscopic barium-swallow esophagography was performed for all dogs, and all had findings consistent with CPA. Dogs underwent cricopharyngeal myectomy (n = 10), cricopharyngeal myectomy and thyropharyngeal myotomy (5), cricopharyngeal myectomy and thyropharyngeal myectomy (2), or cricopharyngeal myotomy alone (1). Seventeen dogs survived to hospital discharge: 11 had immediate complete resolution of signs, 5 had partial resolution, and 1 had no clinical improvement. Clinical signs recurred in 3 dogs after initial cricopharyngeal myectomy.

Clinical relevance: Differential diagnoses for young dysphagic dogs should include CPA. Our findings suggest that dogs undergoing surgical treatment for CPA have favorable outcomes; however, some dogs in this study had persistence or recurrence of mild clinical signs.